Why high defense spending is bad for America

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently testified before the Senate that, should Congress fail to pass the entire requested $1.5 trillion defense budget, it would put the U.S. in danger.

Hegseth justified higher defense spending by inflating the threats America faces and presenting worst-case scenarios. That same week, the House passed the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act as well as the Trump administration’s latest reconciliation bill. 

Contrary to Hegseth’s testimony, however, this threat-inflation and oversized defense budget only makes America weaker.

For starters, it fails to align spending to America’s strategic goals. Lawmakers claim that with all the threats the U.S. is up against, it cannot risk cutting any weapons or defense programs. This budget does not even cut systems like the B-1B bomber, an aircraft with no stealth capabilities and a higher operational cost than the B-52, or the Minuteman III, a nuclear missile that is decades old and increases crisis instability between nations on account of its first-strike vulnerability. This keeps the U.S. wasting money on weapons that don not strengthen the nation’s security. 

On top of that, policymakers want to add even more unneeded weapons to America’s arsenal. The........

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